What we do

Support for cutting-edge international research

Scientific communication plays an important role in the advancement of research. Wings for Life organises international conferences every year to bring together leaders in research and medicine. The foundation also ensures that the scientists we fund publish the conclusions of their projects. These research findings appear in renowned journals and prevents replication of the same studies across the globe.

A spinal cord injury interferes with a complex system – the central nervous system. To find treatments it is essential to understand the basic biology of the disease processes, and discover the building blocks for new therapeutic interventions. Projects focusing on these areas are investigated through basic and preclinical research.

Those therapies or drugs that prove highly promising in basic and pre-clinical research must be tested in a clinical study to understand how well they can be tolerated and how effective they are in humans with a spinal cord injury. Clinical studies span a period of at least eight years and cost millions.

History

Committed to an ambitious mission

The driving forces behind Wings for Life are the two-time motocross world champion Heinz Kinigadner and the founder of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz. In 2003, Kinigadner's son Hannes had a tragic accident which left him tetraplegic.

Moved by the dreadful injury, Kinigadner and Mateschitz invited leading scientists from across the world to come to Salzburg. It soon became clear that, contrary to common opinion, there is legitimate reason to hope that traumatic spinal cord injury can be cured. Ground-breaking discoveries made by Prof. Dr. Sam David in 1981 and by Prof. Dr. Martin Schwab in the early 1990s showed that injured nerve cells in the spinal cord are capable of regeneration after specific types of treatment.

Kinigadner and Mateschitz soon realised that research into spinal cord injury was underfunded. Paralysis is not considered a widespread condition and therefore investing millions in research to help a relatively small number of people was generally considered an unprofitable endeavour.

This realisation prompted Kinigadner and Mateschitz to set up the Wings for Life research foundation – with the goal of finding ways to cure all people affected.